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Winnipeg Rotary Career Symposium 2018

The Virtual Help Desk Navigators packed up and hit the road early last week to participate in the Winnipeg Rotary Career Symposium (Rotary). The weather was betraying a hint of spring so moods were good all around. For two days and one evening we were ready to speak to people about Set Your Course and find out what they want to do with their futures.

Campus Manitoba has been bringing our Set Your Course booth to Rotary for the last three years. Each year we ask students to fill out a small survey so we can see what they’re interested in. We’ve tracked their responses over time and trends are starting to emerge. Read on to see which preferred subjects and desired careers have changed over the last three years and which ones remain the same.

What’s Your Favourite Subject?

We had 216 students fill out our questionnaire this year. That’s lower than last year, but there were a lot of student who said they had already heard about Set Your Course before. Of these 216 students, 171 have plans to attend post-secondary school. Only 3 of them indicated that they had no such plans. That’s pretty impressive.

Most students have more than one favourite subject. Here’s the breakdown of the top three favourite subjects over the last three years.

Top Subjects

2018 – 216 Surveys

Math – 75 students enjoy numbers. First place third year in a row!

Science – 44 students helped put this subject in second place again.

English – 55 students want the world to know that this is their favourite subject.

2017 – 300 Surveys

Math – 87 students listed math as their favourite. This puts it at number 1 for the second year in a row!

Science – 82 students are mad about science. This puts it in second place, again!

English – 54 students chose this as their favourite subject.

2016 – 351 Surveys

Math – 115 students love math!

Science – 97 students can’t get enough of science!

English – 61 students enjoy an affair with the written word.

Honourable Mentions

2018

Biology – Takes the lead with 31 votes.

Art – Comes in second with 28.

2017

Gym – 32 students enjoy the freedom of physical exercise.

Biology and Art – These two tie again at 30 votes.

2016

Gym – Top contender for honourable mentions with 44 votes.

Biology and Art – Surprisingly, these two tied at 39 each.

Let the Future Guide You

Having an opportunity to connect with the students and learn about goals they have in mind for their futures is one of the things we enjoy most about attending Rotary. The most unique career dreams this year were Tattoo Artist and ‘Finding Ancient Things’. For the last three years, the top careers have stayed pretty much the same:

It’s been a close tie between these three areas for the last three years. It’s interesting to see that some careers remain popular from year to year. We’re excited to see how things will evolve next year!

The Kids Know

The youth of today know what they want, and they’re very informed on how to get it. Over the last three years less than 10% of people who filled out the questionnaire were unsure about attending post-secondary education. Also, only 10 people in the last three years knew that they did not want to continue their education. These are pretty amazing numbers. We’re always happy to have a chat with those who come to our booth. Being able to show them that they can reach their educational goals right here in Manitoba makes the hours of standing on our feet worth it. We feel lucky that so many bright young minds are seriously considering their futures. After three years of amazing interactions and experiences, it’s safe to say that the kids are alright.

Campus Manitoba is a consortium of Manitoba’s public post-secondary institutions. Through collaborative projects and shared services, we facilitate student mobility and expand access to post-secondary programs for students in Manitoba. In addition to campusmanitoba.ca, our websites include ecoursesmb.ca, setyourcourse.ca, and openedmb.ca.